Occupation(s) Session musician Name Don Preston Instruments Guitars, vocals Genres Rock music | Years active 1950s-present Website donprestonguitar.com | |
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Role Singer ยท donprestonguitar.com Albums Hot Air Through a Straw Similar People Bobby Cochran, Denny Cordell, Klaus Voormann, Leon Russell, JJ Cale | ||
Associated acts Leon Russell, Joe Cocker | ||
Don Preston is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He recorded in the 1970s with Leon Russell on Leon Russell and the Shelter People and other albums, and with Joe Cocker on Mad Dogs and Englishmen (as "The Gentle Giant"). He backed Russell at The Concert for Bangladesh and appeared in the film and played on the album The Concert for Bangladesh.
Contents
Preston recorded two albums on A&M Records, both produced by Gordon Shryock. The first was Bluse (1968), and the second was Hot Air Through A Straw (1968) by Don Preston & The South with Bob Young, Casey Van Beek, and Bobby Cochran. He also recorded an album on Stax Records titled Still Rock (1969), as well as solo albums on Shelter Records Been Here All The Time (1974) and Sacre Blues (1997) on DJM Records.
Biography
Preston was born in Denver, Colorado, and moved to Whittier, California at age 8. He started playing guitar and sang in the Sewart-Barber Boys Choir. By age 11, he was performing with a traveling youth troupe, the Cactus Kids, that performed at store openings, company parties, and USO clubs throughout Southern California.
1950s
In the 1950s, he performed with The Penguins, The Coasters, The Olympics, The Jaguars, Ritchie Valens, The Righteous Brothers, Gene Vincent, Don Julian and the Meadowlarks, and Jessie Hill, among others.
1960s to 1970s
In the 1960s, his band, Don and the Deacons, played at the Cinnamon Cinder, a North Hollywood club owned by Bob Eubanks. Another band he played in was Cotton Candy that had evolved out of another house band called The Vibrants. From there, he joined The Shindogs with Joey Cooper, Chuck Blackwell, Leon Russell, and Delaney Bramlett.
He performed and recorded in the 1970s with Leon Russell (including Carney and Leon Live), Joe Cocker, Mad Dogs & Englishmen, and on The Concert for Bangladesh. He also recorded and performed with Freddie King, Ricky Nelson and JJ Cale.
The other Don Preston
Preston has sometimes been confused with another musician named Don Preston, rock/jazz keyboardist for Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention.